MOUNT VERNON, Ia.- For the third consecutive season, the University of Northwestern Volleyball team is one of the final 32 teams standing in the country. Northwestern won "The Battle of the Eagles" by defeating the Edgewood College Eagles 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-17) in the First Round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament on Thursday evening. UNW advances to their third straight NCAA Tournament Round of 32 which will be played on Friday night.
The Eagles (the ones wearing the purple and white jerseys) got off to a blazing start in the opening set of the opening round game. UNW, the top seeded team in the regional, showed off their big game experience and were cool, calm, and collected playing on the big stage. UNW hit .500 in the first set compared to the -.034 hitting percentage that Edgewood finished with in the opening frame.
If the Northwestern Eagles were hoping to make a statement early on in the NCAA Tournament, they certainly did that to open the match. The Eagles scored the first seven points of the match to jump out to a commanding 7-0 lead.
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) had two kills during that stretch and then a pair of Eagles who are not normally called upon to rack up kills (
Hannah Gadient (Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue) and
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins)) each surprised Edgewood by picking up a kill during that seven point run.
Mikayla Wilber (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) contributed a service ace to that 7-0 lead as well. Edgewood did their best to recover from that difficult start to the match. The Eagles (the ones in the black and red jerseys this time) had cut into UNW's lead and only trailed 11-6. However,
Grace Moravchik (Mason, Wis./Ashland) would pick up a kill to start another long Northwestern scoring run. Then a
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy) kill would be sandwiched by two
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) kills.
Hannah Rich (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) would then pick up an ace to cap off a 5-0 run from the UNW Eagles. Northwestern held a 16-6 lead and never looked back as they went on to win the first set by a score of 25-11.
The Eagles from Edgewood would play a much better brand of volleyball in the second set. Once again, Northwestern would jump out to a big lead early in the set. This time, the top seeded Eagles led the eighth seeded Eagles 8-3. However, Edgewood would go on a run of their own and pull within two, trailing 14-12. Throughout the middle portion of the set, the two teams began to trade points until the scoreboard read 21-19 in favor of the Northwestern Eagles.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian), the UMAC and AVCA Region 9 Player of the Year, would take control of the serve and power the Eagles to a 2-0 lead. UNW would score the next four points and win the set 25-19. Glanzer picked up a kill followed immediately by an ace.
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) would then pick up an assist on a kill from
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford), before Glanzer would pick up another ace to seal the Northwestern second set victory.
The third set started out as a "game of runs". Northwestern scored the first four points of the set before Edgewood would score three consecutive points of their own. Northwestern would then score four more consecutive points to take an 8-3 lead. Later in the set, UNW appeared to be on their way to an opening round sweep when they held a significant 19-10 lead. However, with the clock starting to strike midnight on their season, Edgewood would attempt to fight back. They scored three straight points to pull within 19-13, but that would be as close as they would get. Northwestern would cruise to a 25-17 victory in the third and final set, completing the sweep.
Northwestern advances to the Round of 32 while Edgewood's season comes to a close. The Eagles out of Madison, Wisconsin qualified for the NCAA Division III National Tournament for the first time since 2011 thanks to winning the NACC Postseason Tournament. In her postgame press conference (which can be found below), Head Coach
Beth Wilmeth's opening statement was congratulating Edgewood College on a fantastic season.
Marley Aune (New Brighton, Minn./Avail Academy), who was announced as an All-Region player by the AVCA yesterday, turned in an eye-popping performance in the Eagles' first National Tournament game. The sophomore finished with 12 kills on an unthinkable .688 hitting percentage. She was equally as dominant defensively, finishing with five blocks.
Abby Glanzer (Brandon, S.D./Sioux Falls Christian) finished with 12 kills, two aces, and nine digs.
Ari Schmidt (Albany, Minn./Holdingford) was also incredibly efficient ending with a hitting percentage of .571 on her eight kills.
The dynamic setting duo of
Grace Strickfaden (Norwood-Young America, Minn./NYA) and
Hannah Gadient (Goodhue, Minn./Goodhue) has been extremely effective for the Eagles all season long and balance was the key on Thursday night. Strickfaden finished with 17 assists while Gadient racked up 16.
Marylyn Schroyer (Ft. Collins, Colo./Ft. Collins) had a team high 11 digs.
Mikayla Wilber (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) had 10 digs of her own and caused havoc with her serve all contest long; finishing with three aces.
#5 University of Northwestern Volleyball is back into the Round of 32 (Regional Semifinal) for the third consecutive season. The Eagles are now only two wins away from winning an NCAA Regional for the second consecutive season. Tomorrow night, the Eagles will be back in action at 7:00pm but their opponent is still unknown. The Eagles will play the winner of the match between the regional host Cornell and Millikin. This story will be updated later in the evening after the Eagles' opponent has been revealed. Updates regarding the UNW Volleyball team throughout the NCAA Division III National Tournament can be found on UNWEagles.com.
**STORY UPDATE**
#25 Cornell College defeated (RV) Millikin University 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 25-27, 25-22) in the NCAA National Tournament Round of 64 on Thursday night. #5 UNW will square off with the Rams in a true road game at Cornell College with a berth in the Sweet 16 on the line. The first serve is scheduled for 7:00pm.
